Habits Practices and Rituals - The Canadian Positive Psychology

Habits, Practices and Rituals
A Framework for Living Well
Canadian Positive Psychology Association
July 18, 2014
Jan Stanley, MAPP
jan.b.stanley@gmail.com
Aristotle’s metaphor:
We begin as a tiny acorn. Our purpose is to
develop ourselves and our lives to produce
our own best grand and beautiful oak tree.
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.
We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, we have
those because we have acted rightly.
We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” - Aristotle
Habits, Practices and Rituals
A Framework for Living Well
•Why a framework?
•What are HPR?
•How do we use HPR for living well?
Why a framework for living well?
What is a habit?
HABIT
A behavior repeated so
often as to become
automatic.
HABIT
A behavior repeated so
often as to become
automatic.
Wood, Quinn & Kashy
2002
“Repeated routine
behavior in the past is
the best predictor of
behavior in the
present.”
Little effort required!
HABIT
A behavior repeated so
often as to become
automatic.
•Examples
• Morning meditation
• Gratitude journal
• Exercise
• Call a friend
Using habits strategically
Understand which actions
bring greater fulfillment,
then create habits to
ensure you do them
regularly.
Q: Which habits help my oak tree grow strong?
What is a practice?
A PRACTICE
Repeated performance of
related activities to acquire
or improve skills.
PRACTICE
Repeated performance of
related activities to acquire
or improve skills.
R. Davidson, 2014
“Well-being can be learned.
It’s very analagous to skills
training: It is through repeated
practice that connections get
established in the brain that
support the new skill.”
Living well is a set of skills!
PRACTICE
Repeated performance of
related activities to acquire or
improve skills.
PP Examples
•Positive relationships
• Mindfulness
• Gratitude
•Optimism
Using practice strategically
Remaining selfcompassionate, ask what
skills would bring greater
fulfillment, then cultivate
them by creating
practices.
Q: Which new or better skills would help my oak tree grow strongest?
What is a ritual?
RITUAL
Symbolic actions to
anchor experiences.
RITUAL
Symbolic actions to
anchor experiences.
Norton & Gino
Norton, Yang & Vohs
Rituals lead to feelings
of control and
increased involvement
– enhanced experience.
Those who performed
rituals felt better, too!
RITUAL
Symbolic actions to
anchor experiences.
PP Examples
•Journal and pen
• Meditation shawl
• ACR happy dance
Using ritual strategically
Identify moments that
connect you to excellence
or purpose and create
rituals to anchor your
experience.
Q: What deep understanding would help my oak tree grow strongest?
HABITS of Well Being
PRACTICES of Well Being
RITUALS of Well Being
Automating behaviors
Repeated performance of
related activities
Symbolic actions
HABITS of Well Being
PRACTICES of Well Being
RITUALS of Well Being
Automating behaviors
Repeated performance of
related activities
Symbolic actions
To routinize well-being
related behaviors
To learn and improve skills of
well being
To anchor and enhance
well being experiences
HABITS of Well Being
PRACTICES of Well Being
RITUALS of Well Being
Automating behaviors
Repeated performance of
related activities
Symbolic actions
To routinize well-being
related behaviors
To learn and improve skills of
well being
To anchor and enhance
well being experiences
Achieve benefits of regular
well being behaviors
Enhanced skills for living well
Integration of experiences
with living well
HABITS of Well Being
PRACTICES of Well Being
RITUALS of Well Being
Automating behaviors
Variety of activities with
shared intention
Symbolic actions
To routinize well-being related
behaviors
To learn and improve skills of
well being
To anchor and enhance
well being experiences
Achieve benefits of behaviors
repeated regularly
Enhanced skills for living well
Integration of actions with
living well
Can enhance self-regulation
ability, willpower not depleted
May have flow, positive
emotions, accomplishment.
May expand awareness of
meaning in one’s life,
connect daily life to life
purpose and values, sensemaking.
“Learning to learn” carries to
other areas.
HABITS of Well Being
PRACTICES of Well Being
RITUALS of Well Being
Automating behaviors
Repeated performance of
related activities
Symbolic actions
To routinize well-being related
behaviors
To learn and improve skills of
well being
To anchor and enhance
well being experiences
Achieve benefits of regular
well being behaviors
Enhanced character and skills
for living well
Integration of actions with
living well, constancy of
purpose
Can enhance self-regulation
ability, willpower not depleted
May have flow, positive
emotions, accomplishment.
“Learning to learn” carries to
other areas.
May enlarge awareness of
meaning in one’s life,
connect daily life to life
purpose and values, sensemaking.
ENHANCE
EMBODY
HARDWIRE
Case Study:
For the past few months, William’s energy has
steadily declined. He began the year resolved to
experience more joy in his life, not radically so, but
enough to feel like he is fully alive and not just a slave
to his job, household chores and family obligations.
William is an architect, in a satisfying marriage with
two school aged children.
Habit:
Practice:
Ritual:
Case Study:
For the past few months, William’s energy has
steadily declined. He began the year resolved to
experience more joy in his life, not radically so, but
enough to feel like he is fully alive and not just a slave
to his job, household chores and family obligations.
William is an architect, in a satisfying marriage with
two school aged children.
Habits: Morning run.
Practice: Playfulness. Joining softball team and regular pick up
games of basketball. Playing with children every day, even briefly.
Finding ways to lighten the mood at work each week.
Rituals: Silly selfie with kids each day after play, using photos to
create a family calendar of fun.
Habit, practice or ritual?
Which activity?
Know what brings fulfillment? Make it a habit!
Need to improve? Create a practice!
Want to connect deeply? Design a ritual!
Sources of habit, practice and ritual ideas
Science
Society
Self
The beauty of a framework
H P R
Who We Can Be
What We Can Do
Best future self
Excellence
Virtue, strengths
Life purpose
Goals & mission
Career, lifework
Other People Matter
Habits, practices and rituals?
Habits
*
*
Practices
*
*
Ritual
*
HPR and Living Well
Well being activities can be habituated
the way we spend our days
the nature of our neurons and genetic expression
Well being can be learned
practices strengthens well being “muscles”
Well being experiences can be anchored and enhanced
ritual deepens and imprints our experiences
The consequence of forging life by purpose and
resolution is a sense of inner harmony, a dynamic
order in the contents of consciousness.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
CPPA Ritual
Newton once said that his life has been spent collecting small rocks
of insight along the shore of the sea of truth.
To close this HPR session, I’d like you to think of ONE INSIGHT that
you have gleaned from this workshop on Habits, Practices and
Rituals. Please write it down.
Sir Isaac Newton once said that his life had been spent collecting
pebbles of insight along the shore of the sea of truth.
Stand by for further direction.
Bruser, M. (1997). The art of practicing: A guide to making music from the heart. New York: Bell Tower.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: HarperPerennial.
Duhigg, C. (2012). The power of habit: Why we do what we do. New York: Random House.
Greenberg, M. & Maymin, S. (2013). Profit from the positive: Proven leadership strategies to boost productivity and transform your business.
New York: McGraw Hill.
Grimes, R. (2014). The craft of ritual studies. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hanson, R. (2013). Hardwiring happiness: The new brain science of contentment, calm and confidence. New York: Harmony.
Kashdan, T. (2014, June 19). What is the simplest strategy to increase your well being? Retrieved from
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/curious/201406/what-is-the-simplest-strategy-increase-your-well-being
Lyubormirsky, S. (2013). The myths of happiness: What should make you happy, but doesn’t, what shouldn’t make you happy, but does. New
York: Penguin.
Norton, Michael I., and Francesca Gino. (2014). Rituals alleviate grieving for loved ones, lovers, and lotteries. Journal of Experimental
Psychology. (Forthcoming).
Peterson, C. & Seligman, M. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. New York: Oxford University Press
Ryan, R., Huta, V., & Deci, E. (2008). Living well: A self-determination theory perspective on eudaimonia. Journal of Happiness Studies (2008)
9:139-170. DOI 10.1007/s10902-006-9023-4
Salzberg, S. (2002). Loving kindness: The revolutionary art of happiness. Boston: Shambhala Press.
Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M. (2006). The Meaning in Life Questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning
in life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 80-93.
Vohs, K., Wang, Y., Gino, F., & Norton, M. Rituals enhance consumption. (2013). Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/0956797613478949
Wood, W., Quinn, J., & Kashy, D. (2002). Habits in everyday life: thought, emotion and action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
Dec;83(6): 1281-97.